not going at once to his work, but would first visit the grave of one of his late friends as it was the first anniversary of his death.
“I shall come back before noon for certain. Be sure and wait till I return, won’t you, Nobu-ko?” he remarked with some emphasis while he was putting on his overcoat. As Nobu-ko passed him his hat, she smiled.
After seeing her husband off at the porch, Teru-ko went back into the sitting-room with her sister. They sat down near the brazier, and Teru-ko offered the elder one some tea. She seemed to have quite a number of things to tell her sister, subjects which women like to discuss among themselves, such as the character of her neighbour’s wife, who was woman-interviewer of some magazine, the foreign opera company whose performance she had seen with her husband, and many other topics they chatted pleasantly about. But somehow or other Nobu-ko felt depressed. She tried hard to shake the feeling off, but she found herself answering her sister’s questions rather absent-mindedly. At last Teru-ko began to notice it. She peeped into her sister’s face solicitously and asked, “Why are you so meditative, my dear?” But Nobu-ko herself did not know the reason.
When the clock struck ten, Nobu-ko languidly raised her eyes and said, “Your husband will not return soon, I suppose?”
Teru-ko looked at the clock and answered very briefly, “No, not so soon.”
